Staying up til’ midnight and sleeping in til’ 9 am. Waking up to eggs, bacon, and french toast. Playing on the beach. Catching up on my gossip magazines while relaxing at the pool. Date nights with my sweet husband. Ahhh, the joys of vacation!!! My picture count has reached 1066, so stay tuned!
Danny and Papa offered to keep MR while Garrett and I went out on our first baby-free date to JD’s chophouse.
MR has sure enjoyed all of the attention she has been getting on our trip down south. We left Eulonia on Sunday and headed to Waycross to spend a few days with Meme and Papa Joe. The term “spoiled rotten” would be an understatement if used to describe Mary Reese’s time with Papa Joe. He crawled side by side with her, strolled her around the neighborhood, changed dirty diapers, fed her, and earned the title of “#1 baby holder”. Thank you Meme and Papa Joe for making our visit so memorable!
MR with Meme and Papa Joe
MR’s great-grandparents, Vonnie and Huey
Our trip to Waycross also meant that we got to spend time with Garrett’s mom’s family. Before we left town, we met up at the hangar for hamburgers and hot dogs. MR had a ball playing with her older cousin Jonathan Stephen, riding on the back of Daddy’s bike, and relaxing on the hammock. We also got in a quick visit to MR’s great grandmother, Mema. Seeing Mary Reese surrounded by all of her family was a special reminder of how blessed we truly are!
Danny with MR and Jonathan Stephen
Danny, MR’s great grandmother- Mema, and Garrett
We may be homeless in 2 weeks, but right now life is great! Fried shrimp, fishing on the dock, a visit from Will and Kristen, and good ole south Georgia humidity made for a perfect trip to the Georgia coast.
You know you’re on vacation, when the biggest decision you’ve made in days is narrowing down the 906 pictures you have taken to 13. Stay tuned for vacation parts two and three and many more pictures…
Who knew traveling in an over-packed Honda with a baby and 80 pound dog could be so fun?!
Horace took Garrett and Dad out for an early morning fishing trip on the Sapelo.
Fourth of July was spent fishing, relaxing on the dock, grilling steaks, and watching the fireworks over the marsh.
Big Daddy won the prize for the biggest catch of the day.
The trip also marked MR’s first boat ride.
And a visit from Will and Kristen…
and of course, more fishing.
And no trip is complete without a picture of “Pee Wee” (dads beloved bike); this one’s for you, mom.
Its 10:50 pm and I have just spent the last 2 hours ironing clothes that are sure to get wrinkled on our 9-11 hour journey to the coast. It’s been 2 years since our last vacation and I want things to be perfect. I have two more loads of laundry to get done, a trip to the dry cleaners, a quick outing to find a pair of white shorts, and an appointment for much needed pedicure. And then, we’re off. The plan is to leave Wednesday morning at 5 am. We’ll spend 4 days at my parents place off the coast of Georgia, one night in Waycross to visit family, and then a week in Fernandina to relax on the beach. I can’t wait!
Thank you all once again for lifting Garrett up in your prayers and thoughts. All went as expected at G’s appointment today. They removed more tissue from his upper arm and left behind an ugly incision with 13 stitches. He also had blood work done and a chest xray. The results should be in the next 7-10 days, so I will keep you posted. G has another appointment with the dermatologist on the day we get back from vacation. Two days later, he is off to Schenectady, NY for an interview. The job is in Marietta so we are really hoping this one works out.
Ahhh yes, things have certainly been a little crazy around the Harvey household. To make matters even more interesting, after we get back from vacation, we have exactly 2 weeks to pack up our house and figure out where we are going to live next year. But first things first. I’ve got vacation on the mind and 13 nicely pressed dresses for my sweet baby girl to wear on her first trip to the beach! I’m packing my worries away and praying that God will get us through the uncertainty that lies ahead.
Below are some pictures I “borrowed” from my sister’s blog of Hendley and MR. Thank you once again Julie for taking such good care of MR today. I’m also enclosing a few pictures from Sunday. After church, Clare and Chris invited us over for grilled chicken, corn on the cob, pasta salad, and melt in your mouth buttered biscuits. Bradley and Mary Reese had a great time playing on the swing set and riding in the wagon. The food and fellowship were a wonderful reminder of how lucky we are to have these new friends in our lives.
Mary Reese (9 months) and Hendley (16 months)
I love the look on Hendley’s face in this picture. Hendley couldn’t figure out why MR got so upset after she ripped the duck out of her hand
No doubt about it…she is her daddy’s child. As Gran C would say, “It’s little Garrett with a bow”
Swinging with Bradley
Thank you to all of our prayers warriors for lifting up Baby Trent in your thoughts and prayers. Julie and Bill went in for another sonogram this morning and found out that although Trent’s left kidney has a mass on it, the kidney will function as normal. This is great news and we couldn’t be any happier! What’s even more encouraging is that if Trent does in fact have trouble with the kidney, the situation can be corrected in Charlottesville by one of the top urologists in the world!
While Julie and Bill were at the appointment this morning, I had the privilege of watching over little “Nene” (this is the name Hendley has given herself). Nene was a mess; constantly bossing her little cousin and telling her “no, no, no”. MR was oblivious to her disapproval until she caught Nene trying to sit on her brand new car seat. And then “Meme” appeared. Meme is MR’s alter ego (as of today). Nene and Meme were hilarious together. They were like two old women arguing over a church pew.
The confrontation lasted throughout Regis and Kelly and ended when it was time for Meme’s morning nap. When Meme awoke, she planted herself in the car seat and settled in for another episode of the View. I’m beginning to fear that if G doesn’t install it soon, the car seat could become a very expensive and brightly colored lazy boy for the living room.
Please continue to pray for Garrett over the weekend. We go back to the dermatologist on Monday for further testing.
Mission almost impossible (in 10 seconds): Setting up the camera on auto, picking up two 20+ pound babies, running to get in place, and smiling for the camera…
Mary Reese is 9 months old today! To celebrate, we headed over to Target to purchase a big-girl car seat with a big-girl price tag (who knew car seats were so expensive?). There were two color options: a two tone gray or a loud and proud pink. The gray looked like the interior of a 1980′s astro van, so we went with pink. Bold, loud, and oh so girly. And according to G, slightly obnoxious.
Regardless, I’m glad to have the car seat purchase behind me. Now, I can focus on packing for the beach. And trying to figure out what we’re going to do on July 31, when our lease runs out. Hmmm, I just realized that that is only 5 weeks from now. At least if we’re homeless, MR will have a comfortable car seat to sleep in.
One additional prayer request before I go. Please say a special prayer for my sister tonight. She goes in tomorrow morning for another sonogram to determine if little Trent’s left kidney is functioning. Please pray that God will impart His comfort and peace on Julie and Bill and that He will continue to bless baby Trent.
I’m leaving you with some pictures that we took on Wednesday of MR’s first trip to the pool. We had so much fun on our pool playdate with Clare and Bradley that we went back for round two later that evening (no worries, I loaded G and MR down with SPF 50 before leaving the house).
Short post, but just wanted to ask everyone to say a prayer for my husband, Garrett. He had a mole removed a few weeks ago and got a call from the doctor this morning that it is stage one melanoma. We are thankful that it is in the early stages and have full faith that the doctors will be able to safely remove the cancerous tissue. We go back in on Monday to have more of the tissue removed and to do blood work and a chest xray. I will keep you all posted on the results of the test. Thanks for your prayers!
I won’t pretend to know much about college baseball, but I do know (thanks to my husband) that the bulldawgs rallied to defeat Fresno State in game one of the College World Series. The game meant that I got to enjoy the two hour special of the Bachelorette without my husband harassing me for watching such filth. It also meant that poor MR and Sadie had to put on their red and black and endure yet another endless photo session.
The bulldawgs arent the only top dogs in this house, this weekend I purchased three back-up “Pink Poodles” for Mary Reese. Never one to keep a secret, the box of poodles barely made it into the house before I ripped one out to present to sweet MR. She now sleeps with one in each arm.
